A senior Aboriginal community police officer has told the Northern Territory coroner that police from out of town are "rougher" than their bush-based counterparts and lack "respect and responsibility".
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains an image of a person who has died, used with the permission of their family.
Derek Williams, a community police officer of more than a decade, told the coronial inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker that he has had "issues with racism" when police from major centres arrive in an Indigenous community.
"Town-based policing is hands on all the time and there's been officers ... coming from Darwin or Alice Springs or Katherine or Tennant Creek, the major centres, and they take that hands on stuff to remote communities which lacks respect and responsibility within the police force," Mr Williams told the coroner.
"For example, if you're going to arrest somebody in town for a warrant or something, sometimes police kick the doors down, but in remote communities we don't do that, we just knock on the door and say who we are, and people come out."
Northern Territory Coroner Elisabeth Armitage is presiding over a three-month inquest into the death of Mr Walker, who died after he was shot three times by a police officer in November 2019.
Constable Zachary Rolfe, who fired the fatal shots, was found not guilty of any offence in relation to Mr Walker's death after a five-week Supreme Court trial in March 2022.
The inquest has previously heard Constable Rolfe and a handful of his specialist "Immediate Response Team" (IRT) colleagues travelled to Yuendumu from Alice Springs on the day Mr Walker died.
The 19-year-old was shot during an attempt to arrest him, for breaching a suspended sentence and assaulting police, after he stabbed Constable Rolfe in the shoulder with a pair of scissors.
Derek Williams also told the court he believed a community police officer should be involved in the arrest of people facing serious offences in remote communities, to ensure there was "culturally appropriate communication" as the first tactical response and that cultural training for Northern Territory police should be improved.
"Their cultural awareness stuff they do up in the [police] college, they only do that for the upper NT regions," Mr Williams said.
"There should be in not just Yuendumu, but every remote station, should have a day induction, so the constables can learn our culture for a day and meet elders and how they're best to communicate with elders and get their understanding of the community."
Mr Williams told the coroner more needed to be done to entice "kardiya", or white people, to stay in remote communities, as opposed to working there for short contracts.
"Any kardiya that comes into the community, they come out bush for like two years or 12 months … we put our trust in those people who come out and when they leave, we have to do that process again [and] build that relationship with the new fella," he said.
Coroner Elisabeth Armitage thanked Mr Williams for his suggestions and acknowledged the "critically important" work he does in the community, upholding the law whilst balancing cultural responsibilities.
Yuendumu Elder recalls 'controlling' community after shooting
Derek Williams' father, Warren Williams, also gave evidence to the coroner about the night Kumanjayi Walker died, telling the court he gave "orders" to the community to keep calm and not damage the police station.
"I think [the crowd] was completely under our control already because what we said to the people in every direction … that nothing has to be done, either to the police station or whatever," Mr Williams Senior said.
He told the coroner relationships between elders and the community were "critical" on the night of the shooting and recalled finding out the following morning that Kumanjayi Walker had passed away.
Mr Williams Senior said he was "traumatised" and felt police didn't care about Mr Walker, because his body had been left alone.
"In our system when you [have] a dead body in front of you, you never leave it, never … I don't care how bad it is. We stay with the body all the time, right through the night," he said.
Mr Williams Snr, who was born and raised in Yuendumu, also told the court about positive relationships he had built with local police officers over the years and said a "good" officer, was one who mixed with the community.
"There was some remarkable policemen there," Mr Williams Snr said.
He also told the court he had a "good relationship" with health staff, who had left the community hours before Kumanjayi Walker was shot, following a spate of break ins.
"I think they evacuated for a good reason… the break-ins and I don't blame them for that," he said.
Coroner to hear legal argument over Rolfe objections
The final day of the first week of the inquest has been set aside for legal arguments about objections raised by Constable Rolfe's lawyers.
Counsel assisting the coroner Dr Peggy Dwyer told the court Constable Rolfe's team have objected to the inquest exploring a handful of issues – including some related to use of force by police and whether there was evidence of cultural bias within the force.
The coroner is expected to continue hearing from inquest witnesses next week.
